Strangers like Me
by ObitoTheHero
Summary: Sasuke and Itachi Uchiha's best friend when they were little, Anika Shiro, is a little girl with high hopes of becoming a great ninja when she gets older. But once the Uchiha clan is slaughtered it seemed everything just goes from bad to worse for her. Go through life as Anika tries to figure out who she is and what she wants with her life as a ninja.
1. God Help the Outcasts

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto, Masashi Kishimoto does. All rights go to him except my oc.

At the moment Sasuke and Anika are about 5 and Itachi is 10. Hitsuji is 3 ½.

Strangers like Me

Chapter one- God Help the Out Casts

Anika woke up slowly and rubbed her eyes. What time was it? Looking around blurrily, trying to find the clock, she jumped out of her skin and screamed as her sister popped out of nowhere.

"Anika! Breakfast!" She grinned and ran out of their room and down the little hall into the kitchen. Anika sighed.

"Hitsuji! Don't scare me like that!" She yelled after her and got out of bed, smiling lazily after her sister. As she walked into the kitchen she saw her mother with her back to her, eating breakfast with Hitsuji next to her, shoveling food into her face. As she came into the room Hitsuji looked up, milk dribbling down her chin, and waving frantically.

"Hi Mummy. Hitsuji, you have some stuff on your chin." Anika said and she made her way to the table. Her mom kissed her on the head and got up, putting her bowl in the sink.

"You want some cereal Anika-chan?" Her mom asked, already getting out the bowl and her favorite cereal.

"Yes please. Thank you Mum." She said as she sat down, watching as Hitsuji got up and tried to put her bowl in the sink like her mother had but she couldn't quite reach. Hitsuji stretched up on her tip toes and made a grunting noise. To make her feel better, her mother picked her up by the waist and the little girl put the bowl in herself, feeling accomplished as she was put down on the ground again with a proud grin on her face.

Anika ate her breakfast quietly until there was a knock at the front door. She put her bowl in the sink and peered around the kitchen corner to see who it was. To her delight it was two very familiar faces.

"Konichiwa Shiro-san. I'm very sorry if it is too early to ask this of you but Sasuke was wondering if Anika-chan was home?"

"Oh, Itachi. You don't have to be so formal all the time. Please, how many times do I have to tell you to call me Mari? Of course Anika is home. Come on in, both of you." She stepped aside, letting both boys enter the house. They looked out of place in the Shiro house. They both looked so fancy with their nice clothes and shiny black hair next to the crappy furniture and scuffed up wooden floor. The Shiro family did not have very much money seeing as their father worked a couple of odd jobs in the market and their mother stayed home to take care of them.

Anika stepped out of her hiding spot and walked over to them as they made their way down out hallway.

"Hi!" She greeted. They smiled as she led them to the kitchen. Not that they needed her to tell them where it was, they were here all the time. In the corner of her eye she saw Itachi smirking. "What?" She quirked her head to the side and looked up at him.

"Nice pajamas." She looked down at her blue, tattered nightgown. Her grey eyes went wide and she blushed. Giving a squeak, she ran to her room and changed into a normal shirt with an overall dress over it, running her fingers through her curly hair quickly. When she came back out of her room Sasuke and Itachi were waiting for her as she blushed and looked at her feet embarrassedly. Itachi smiled and ruffled her chestnut hair.

"Come on Ani, let's go to the park." Sasuke insisted as he took her wrist and started dragging her towards the front door.

"WAIT!" They all halted in their tracks as they heard Hitsuji scream and run after them, skidding to a stop in front of Anika and pulling on her dress. "Can I come with you?" Anika looked from Sasuke to Itachi and back to Hitsuji's pleading eyes.

"Not this time Hitsuji. Maybe next time, okay?" The littler girl nodded sadly and walked back to her mother, who told Anika to have fun and be safe, and then led Hitsuji back into the living room.

With that, Sasuke led the way to the park, dragging Anika with him as they were followed by Itachi. Anika immediately ran to the swings, which where her favorite, and upon climbing onto one next to Sasuke yelled,

"Itachi-niisan! Push me!" with a big smile. Itachi chucked but complied, as he always did when she asked, which was often.

"You know how to do it yourself Anika." He said knowingly, making her pout and blush a little bit.

"But what's the fun in that? Sasuke knows how to do a lot of things and he still makes you do everything for him!" she exclaimed, going higher and higher. Sasuke glared at her and yelled,

"I do not!" and pouted at her.

"Sasuke, don't make that face. It might stay that way." Itachi said parentally. 'Now that sounded like something mummy would say.' Anika thought as she giggled. As if reading her mind Sasuke yelled back at his older brother,

"That sounds like something mom would say!"

In the midst of their bickering, Itachi didn't noticed the amount of force he put behind his pushes to the swing because she was going higher…and higher…and even higher…

"Itachi-n-niisan?..." Nothing.

"I-Itachi…?" They still didn't notice her or her rising panic.

"ITACHI. STOP." That got their attention.

They both stopped their arguing to stare at her and Itachi knew exactly what was wrong. He stopped the swing immediately and crouched in front of her.

"Are you alright Anika-chan?"

She took at shaky breath and replied,

"H-Hai. I'm okay. I just…" Before Sasuke interrupted her,

"You really need to get over your fear of heights if you want to be a ninja Anika."

"I-I know. Just…never mind. Wanna go on the slides?" She said, changing the subject. She just had an irrational fear of heights, was that really that bad? Okay so she was afraid of spiders too. And the dark…and loud noises… And a lot of other things but as she grew up, she would get braver, right? That's what happened when you got older. She would be better when she grew up like…like her mom or Itachi!

As she was lost in thought Sasuke and Itachi had gone over to the slide, leaving Anika at the swings. She decided to walk to the monkey bars, which were opposite the swings.

"Where are you going, Anika?" Itachi asked as he watched Sasuke with worried eyes as he almost fell off the top of the slide.

"Just over to the monkey bars. Sasuke, please don't fall and die on me!" she called as she ran over to said play equipment as he yelled something back about no promises. She jumped onto the bar; hanging upside down by her knees and smiled, blinking at her fuzzy vision.

'Was…somebody on the swings…?' She blinked a couple more times to clear her vision. Yes, there was definitely a blonde boy on the swings, probably about her age. He was all alone too. Maybe she should go talk to him? She was very shy but she was never one to let other people feel left out or forgotten.

Out of the corner of his eye Itachi watched as Anika got back on her feet and made her way back to the swings. As she got closer she noticed he had spikey blonde hair and startlingly blue eyes. She stopped in front of him but was not surprised that he did not notice because he was looking at the ground and she was naturally quiet.

She smiled and leaned down to look in his face, getting his attention finally. Now that she saw his shocked face, she looked from left to right and then down at her feet, not sure what to say. A bright blush forming over her face she said with a smile and a soft voice,

"H-Hi there. My n-name is Shiro A-Anika. What's y-you're name? If you don't mind m-me asking th-that is. I-If you do I-I can just go away if you-"

Her nervous rambling was interrupted by a laugh that started off quiet and then got louder as it went on, surprising her into silence.

"My name's Uzumaki Naruto and I'm going to be a great ninja one day!" he introduced himself. The exclamation made her giggle. She could tell she was going to like this one. He seemed like a good person.

Before she could say anything else though she heard Itachi and Sasuke calling her over from their spot near the slide, saying they had to go home.

"I have to go. Will you be here tomorrow?" she asked, wanting to talk to him again.

"Maybe. I'll see you around. It's a small village." He said with a bright smile and waved at her as he strode off mumbling something about ramen.

Anika ran back to the Uchihas and took Itachi's hand, starting on the way home with them.

"Who was that?" Sasuke asked curiously, almost judgmentally. Itachi stayed quiet.

"Some new kid I just met. His name's Naruto. He seemed lonely so I thought I would play with him." She answered, peering around Itachi's leg to look at Sasuke, who was doing the same.

"Would you like to come to our house for a snack Anika-chan?" Itachi finally spoke up, glancing down at the little girl.

"Sure!" She beamed. She loved the Uchiha's house! It was so fancy and their mom was so nice!

"Umph!" Anika yelped as she tripped over her sandal and fell on the ground with a thud. She turned to inspect her knee which had a scrap on it. Nothing horrible but it was bleeding quite a bit. As she began to cry, Sasuke came running to her rescue and upon seeing her knee said,

"Itachi-niisan!"

His older brother immediately came over and accessed the damage; from the girl's crying to his brother's worried face. He leaned down and got some bandages out of his pouch on his leg and wrapped it around the little girl's knee.

She stopped crying and watched as he patched her up with a small smile on his face. Sasuke kept looking impatiently between the two and when the older was done with the bandage Sasuke did something that surprised both of them.

He kissed her bandaged knee and smiled up at her.

"My mom always says it makes it feel better." Itachi let out a chuckle and Anika giggled.

"Come on. Up you go." Itachi said as he put Anika on his back and held Sasuke's hand. "Time to get you guys home."

"Thank you, Itachi-nii," Anika whispered.

"You're welcome, Anika." He replied.


	2. Hakuna Matata

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto, Masashi Kishimoto does. All rights go to him except my oc.

Sasuke and Anika are still 5 and Itachi is 10. Hitsuji is still a lovely 3 ½.

Strangers like Me

Chapter Two- Hakuna Matata

As they made their way to the entrance to the Uchiha compound, Sasuke opened the door to let Itachi carry Anika through.

"I can walk you know!" she insisted with a pout. She hated feeling helpless.

"I know you can. You're a big girl but I don't want you to fall over again and hurt yourself even more because you know what happened last time." Itachi reminded her with a smirk as they stopped in front of the Uchiha's house. She blushed and snuggled her face in the crook of his neck, which made him chuckle.

"Mom!" Sasuke exclaimed as he dashed forward and gave her a hug around the waist. "I'm hungry. Can we have something to eat?" Her laugh sounded like a bell as she replied,

"Of course you can.", with a bright, soft smile. "Come on you three, come into the kitchen and I'll see what we have."

"Arigato Mitoko-san!" Anika said brightly, getting down from Itachi's back. Fugaku happened to be coming down the stairs so she hid behind Itachi and waited. Everybody bowed to him, including Anika. She didn't like him but she wasn't about to be rude. When he saw her behind his eldest son he glared at her and announced suddenly he was going to go over and have lunch with Shisui and his father that day so he would not be joining them and left the house.

Anika relaxed once he left but didn't let go of the grip she had on Itachi's shirt. She didn't know why Uchiha-sama hated her so much, it was just the feeling she got around him and it made her nervous.

Mikoto tried to cover up the awkward encounter with pulling some left-over dango out of the fridge.

"Here you go. How about some dango?" she asked as got it ready and put the plates in front of the three. Mikoto did the dishes as Sasuke told Anika about this cool shuriken move he had seen someone do when he was spying on the training grounds one day. Anika on the other hand was only half listening. She was half wondering what she did to make Uchiha-sama hate her so much. Deciding it probably wasn't even her fault because he was mean to everybody, she listened to Sasuke's story instead.

Itachi hated seeing Anika look so puzzled and worried because he _knew_ why Fugaku hated Anika so much. It was because of Anika's mother. Her mother was the nicest person Itachi had ever met but unfortunately, not everybody saw it that way.

Growing up, Anika's mother was Mari Okonawa of the Okonawa clan. It wasn't a very famous clan but it was well heard of in Konoha at least. Growing up, she was Mikoto's best friend; they did everything together. She was a wonderful ninja and even made it up to jounin level but as she got older she fell in love with a man named Tomo Shiro who worked at a Deli in the market. Her family did not approve of the relationship and disowned her so she married Tomo and started a family with him.

She kept in contact with Mikoto of course but many of the 'upper class' like, her family, the more snobby Uchiha, or even some of the Hyuuga had stopped talking to her. Now they struggled with financial needs and raising two kids, even with Tomo working 3 jobs.

Itachi shook his head and reached for another dango but realized he had eaten them all. Looking down at his blank plate he looked over at Sasuke who looked stuffed and Anika who had one left.

"I'm full. You want it nii-san? It's your favorite, right?" she asked, handing it to him and smiling. He smiled back and took it from her, looking it over for a second.

"You're right. Thank you."

"No, I want it!" Sasuke yelled, reaching a hand out for it just at Itachi was about to put it in his mouth.

"I just asked you and you said you couldn't eat another bite." Anika said, confused. Sasuke glared.

"Yeah but I don't want him to have it!" Then she laughed, gently taking the three pieces of food off the stick and splitting it evenly.

"There. Happy?" She said expectantly, staring at Sasuke with a smirk. He grinned and popped it into his mouth.

"Yes. Yes I am."

"Thank you for walking me home! I'll probably see you tomorrow!" Anika said as she tripped over the first step on her porch, catching herself and grinning as her friends walked back to their house.

She ran into the house and found her mother in the living room and her sister in their shared room. Deciding to greet her mother first she walked to the living room and sat next to her on the couch.

"Hi mom!" she said and she jumped her in a tight hug. Mari laughed and hugged her back.

"Hey honey. How was your day?" she asked as she started picking up toys around the room, no doubt left there by Hitsuji. Hitsuji always left a hurricane like trail behind her.

"It was good. We went to the park and went on the swings." Best not tell her about my incident. "And then I met this kid Naruto. He was all sad and alone and I was really nervous but I went up to him all by myself and talked to him, just like that!" I was proud of myself, okay? It wasn't every day I was that outgoing. "And then I fell on the way home but it was okay because Itachi-niisan fixed it." I pointed to my bandage, which she came over and looked at but probably deemed fine because then she went back to picking up toys. "And then we had dango and played board games and had a nap and and and…."

"Okay there Anika, don't get too ahead of yourself. Why don't you go get washed up for dinner, okay?" Mari asked, pushing a defiant curl behind Anika's ear and smiling down at her.

"Okay mum." She said, going to wash her hands.

"Is Anika-niichan home?!" I heard Hitsuji scream from our room.

"Yes." Mum replied.

"YAAYYY!" was all I heard before I was tackled to the bathroom floor with still wet hands, water flying everywhere.

As Mari was putting the dishes away from dinner Hitsuji and Anika were heading to the bathroom to brush their teeth before bed time. Anika has explained all about her day to her sister but the littler girl just could not suppress the amount of questions flowing out of her mouth.

"So you saw a boy at the park?" Anika nodded so Hitsuji continued; though Anika had a sneaking suspicion she would have continued either way.

"What did he look like?" she questioned. Anika sighed.

"I told you! He had-"

"Did he have blond hair?" Hitsuji interrupted.

"Yes. And blue-"

"What color eyes did he have? Was he short? Was he tall? How long was his hair? How do you know he was a boy? What if he was a girl who just looked like a-", and at that point she tuned out the smaller girl's questions and concentrated on brushing her teeth. Her sister had the annoying habit of asking a million questions, even if she knew the answers. She had to ask, just to make sure her answers were right. It was cute and almost endearing if you didn't know her all that well but then the questions got too personal. It was like she had no self-control over anything she did.

When Anika finished brushing her teeth she put her tooth brush away and looked over at her sister, who was still talking with her toothbrush flopping lazily from her mouth. Sighing, Anika took the toothbrush from Hitsuji and finished cleaning the girl's teeth.

"There you go." She said as she finished, handing the toothbrush back to its owner and heading back to their room. Upon entering said room, their mom was already there waiting to say good night to them before they went to bed. Snuggling into her mom's chest and closing her eyes, Anika yawned and sighed tiredly.

"Good night Mum." She mumbled, climbing into bed and getting under her covers.

Hitsuji came trotting in after that, jumping into their mother's arms and saying good night to her. Mari put her into her bed, tucking her in and placing a kiss on her forehead before coming over to Anika and doing the same. As Mari left the room, she left the door a bit open and looked at her girls with a small smile playing on her lips.

"Good night girls."


	3. Welcome (Family)

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto, Masashi Kishimoto does. All rights go to him except my oc.

Sasuke and Anika are still 5 and Itachi is 10. Hitsuji is still a lovely 3 ½.

Strangers like Me

Chapter 3- Welcome (Family)

It was a usual morning in the Shiro household the next day. Tomo was working, the girls had cereal, and Mari sat at the table and talked with them until they heard a knock at the door.

"I'll get it!" Hitsuji yelled and ran to the door before anybody could even get up. Mari and Anika laughed as she whipped open the door to find Itachi and Sasuke standing there, looking surprised to see her opening the door.

"Hi!" she said, waving frantically. "Come on in. We're almost ready. You guys are going to the park again right? Can I come this time? Please please please please please?" she begged, looking from them to her sister and then to her mother. Mari seemed fine with it. Anika look questioningly at the brothers who looked like they wouldn't mind too much except for Sasuke was pouting a bit. Choosing to ignore him she said,

"Sure, you can come with us." with a smile and ruffling her sister's already messy brown hair.

"Yay! I'm going to go get dressed!" she yelled as she ran into her room as her mother followed her.

"Let me help you with that honey." She called after her.

Anika laughed and put her breakfast in the sink, washing her hands and telling them she was going to get dressed also.

As she entered her room, her jaw dropped. It looked like her closet threw up. There were clothes everywhere and Mari was struggling to put a shirt over Hitsuji's head, the little girl mumbling something about her mother trying to kill her.

Deciding not to make the situation worse, Anika kept quiet and changed her clothes without a problem and left the room without being noticed. About a minute later, Hitsuji emerged from the room fully dressed in decent clothes with her wavy hair brushed and looking nice. Mari on the other hand looked like a wreck and it made the three older children giggle until she gave them a warning glare. Well, Anika and Sasuke giggled at least. Itachi just started laughing but covered it put very quickly with a cough when he saw her face.

"Well I think that's our queue to leave then. See you later Mari-san." Itachi said with a wave as they went out the front door.

"Be careful! You watch them Itachi!" She said warningly but underneath she knew he would. She trusted him.

As they were walking, Sasuke pulled Anika a little so they fell back behind Hitsuji and Itachi as if he wanted to say something privately.

"What is it?" She asked curiously.

"Why does SHE have to come with us?" He asked, pointedly glaring at the back of Hitsuji's head. Anika followed his gaze and then glared at him.

"Because she's my sister!"

"So! That doesn't mean anything. She's too young, she only gets in the way." He explained his reasoning, crossing his arms and giving a huff. Oh! So it was because when Hitsuji came along Anika spent most of her time with her and not him?

"You don't like when your older brother doesn't let you do things you wanna do with him, right?" she asked. She knew it was a soft spot for him. He only nodded. "Well, it's the same for Hitsuji. Just let her have fun with us for once. She's really not that bad. And besides, I promise I'll have time for both of you." she said jokingly, sticking her tongue out at him and running to catch up so that she was next to Hitsuji.

"Hold my hand." Anika told her sister, outstretching her hand towards the girl.

"I don't want to." The younger said stubbornly.

"I don't care if you don't want to. What if something happens to you? It would be my fault! Hold my hand!" Anika said again, a little more forcefully this time.

"No! I'm a big girl! I don't need to hold anybody's hand!" She said again, crossing her arms and nodding. Anika sighed.

"You know what? I hold Itachi's hand all the time." She said as if it was no big deal, looking over at Itachi for support. "And Sasuke. We hold hands all the time so we don't get lost and stuff."

"You…You do?" She looked up, surprised.

"Yeah, Hitsuji-chan. I'd hate to see one of you guys get hurt." Itachi added, giving his best close eyed smile. Well, if her older sister did it…

"Okay then." Hitsuji said, taking Anika's hand and holding it gently, much more gently then she expected for such a hyper little spazz. Anika smiled and kept walking until they reached the park. Hitsuji ran ahead on them and climbed up the slide, Sasuke going over to the monkey bars and Itachi following Hitsuji to make sure she didn't fall and kill herself.

Anika looked around before she spotted him. He was exactly where he was yesterday, sitting on the swing and looking sad. She walked up behind him and shyly tapped him on the shoulder.

He yelped and jumped around, scaring her half to death and making her trip backwards over her own feet. After a moment of awkward eye contact they both started laughing nervously which turned into actual laughter which turned into hysterical laughing. When the boy caught his breath he said,

"Hey, you're the girl from yesterday, right? Shirito something?"

"Shiro Anika." She corrected, getting off the ground and dusting the dirt off the back of her dress. Hearing the yelling and laughter got Hitsuji's attention of course so she came bounding over at top speed, tackling Anika to the ground again. So much for getting the dirt off.

"Anika-niichan, you okay?" she asked, looking up at the sister, not even noticing the boy laughing at Anika's misery.

"I'm fine but get off me!" she cried as she tried to push her off. Hitsuji did as she was told and jumped to her feet as she finally took notice of the blonde next to them. Anika brushed off the dirt from her dress AGAIN as Hitsuji addressed the boy,

"Hi! I'm Shiro Hitsuji. What's your name? Are you the boy Anika met yesterday? I bet you are. You look like him. Or what she said you looked like. So, what's your name, hmm?"

The boy just kind of looked down at her a little exasperated and thought, 'Wow, this girl talks really fast.'

"My name's Uzumaki Naruto!" he replied with his best smile and a thumb's up.

"Oh, cool!" She said. Getting an idea she said excitedly, "Hey, you wanna race me around the playground 3 times?" she challenged, determination in her eyes.

"Sure, I could beat a little kid like you." He said, starting to get ready to run.

"Be careful you two!" Anika called as Naruto yelled 'Go!' and they were off. It seemed he was going easy on her and she had a proud smile on her face as she ran ahead of him.

As they were running, Sasuke came over and sat on a swing next to Anika and watched.

"Who's that kid?" he asked, referring to Naruto.

"His name's Naruto. You've never noticed him here before? He's on the swings all the time, usually alone. I just thought I'd talk to him. He looked lonely. He was the kid I was talking about yesterday." She said thoughtfully, watching as Naruto and Hitsuji made another lap around the playground.

"Hasn't anybody ever told you not to talk to strangers before Anika-chan?" Itachi's cool voice came from behind her, making her jump. After her heartbeat slowed to a semi-normal rate she replied,

"I know but…He looked like he…needed somebody."

They left it at that as Naruto and Hitsuji came running over then, Hitsuji running straight into Anika's arms and hugging her, almost knocking her off her swing.

"Did you see nii-chan? Did you see? I won!" she beamed up at her friends.

Naruto laughed and patted Hitsuji atop her head.

"Yeah, you're pretty fast kiddo." He said. Before he could even ask Anika said,

"Naruto, these are my friends Itachi and Sasuke Uchiha. Guys, this is Uzumaki Naruto." Naruto scratched the back of his head awkwardly and smiled.

"Hi. Nice ta meetcha." Suddenly he stopped smiling and looked even a little panicked. "Wait, what time is it?" he asked.

"About 11:30 AM. Why?" Itachi replied.

"I'm supposed to meet Iruka-sensei for ramen." He said, sounding rushed and worried. "I have to go." He said, starting to walk away before coming back and smiling.

"Actually, would you guys like to come with me? It'd be fun. I mean, everybody likes ramen, right?" He beamed as we all looked at Itachi for permission. He nodded and Anika said,

"We'd love to!"

"Great!" he said as he led the way to Ichiraku's Ramen. Anika held Hitsuji's hand the whole way there, worried she would lose the smaller girl in the crowded street and Sasuke held Anika's other hand because for some reason he thought of her as a baby even though they were the same age.

As they reached the ramen stand Naruto greeted a man with a brown ponytail and a scare on his nose.

"Iruka-sensei, these are some on my new friends. Is it okay if they eat with us?" he asked the man Anika guessed was named Iruka. Iruka said it was okay so we all bowed to him, introducing ourselves one by one before sitting down. Well, except for Itachi, who already knew him from the academy. Anika didn't even notice the man behind the counter until he said her name.

"Anika-chan!" she looked up to see her father behind the counter, smiling at her. This just happened to be one of the three jobs Anika's father had. She knew he worked her, just not what time so she was very surprised to see him here.

"Daddy!" She exclaimed. Anika wanted to hug him so bad but he was working so she couldn't. Instead she just asked, "Can me and Hitsuji get some ramen please?" He looked at her wearily before responding.

"I have enough money for both of you to have noodles and the beef broth. That's it. Nothing else." He explained firmly but Anika and Hitsuji smiled. That's all they really ate in the ramen anyway.

"Thank you Dad!" They said as he went of the prepare it.

"Wait, Tomo-san is your father?" Naruto asked, surprised. Anika nodded.

"That's so cool! I see him here like, everyday!" Naruto said with a grin, already devouring the ramen he had in front of him. Anika tried to grin back but it showed in her eyes how sad she was. 'That's more than I see him then.' She thought. Itachi noticed the fleeting look of sadness in her eyes before her food was put in front of her and in a second, the sadness was masked.

As they all finished up their food Itachi stood up and bowed to Iruka-sensei, thanking him for letting them join but that they must be off.

"No problem. Thank you for being so nice to Naruto. Really." Iruka said kindly, giving them all a smile.

"You're quite welcome." Itachi replied.

"Bye! See you soon!" Naruto said as he waved them goodbye.

Since that day a year ago, Naruto had become a big part of the Shiro family's life. He came over the house a lot and Mari became very attached to him. Sometimes when Anika had been out all day with Itachi and Sasuke, she would come home and Naruto would be eating dinner with her family. It would not be a weird sight to see on a Wednesday night.

As Anika got older her parents started sharing the workload a bit more. Tomo still worked days and nights and her mother took on small, odd Chuunin jobs like assisting academy teachers and such. Mari wanted to be out there where all the action was, doing dangerous missions and taking on S-ranked criminals like she had when she was younger but she had too much to lose now and she knew that so she stuck to what she could. Because she would not be around to look after Hitsuji, Mikoto would look after her during the day time. But at the moment, Anika was very excited because the next day was her and Sasuke's first day of the academy!


	4. When Will My Life Begin?

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto, Masashi Kishimoto does. All rights go to him except my ocs.

In this chapter, Anika and Sasuke are 6, Itachi's 11, and Hitsuji's 4 ½. I know I'm changing canon a little bit with Itachi's age and him being in the academy still but whatever. It fits better for the story.

Strangers like Me

Chapter 4- When Will My Life Begin?

Anika waited at her kitchen table for ten minutes before the knock at her front door came. It didn't feel like ten minutes though. It had felt like an hour of waiting. And hour of sitting, staring, memorizing the cracks and stains on the wooden table as the clock ticked the seconds by, the sound echoing in her ears as if it was the only thing she could hear.

Across the table from Anika, her sister was babbling on about something she was going to do with Mikoto-san today but she wasn't listening. She was too nervous. But then it happened. It came.

That fateful knock on the door.

It snapped her out of her trance as her head snapped up to look at the door. They were here. Her stomach flipped as she got out of her chair and went to the door, opening it to see the ever so familiar faces of her best friends. Seeing Itachi and Sasuke standing there made her stomach calm down a little but she was still very nervous. I mean, this was her first day of the academy! What if nobody liked her?!

"You ready?" Itachi said coolly, as if this wasn't the biggest day of her life. Looking down at her standard blue ninja pants and purple sweatshirt, flattening them out a bit, she closed her eyes and nodded shakily. Hitsuji skipped up behind her and grinned up at her friends and sister.

"Are we leaving?" She asked. Anika gave Hitsuji her best smile and said as calmly as she could,

"Of course. Come on." Grabbing her sister's hand she called back into the house, "Mom, we're going now! Have a nice day at work! Love you!" Her mom started work in about half an hour so she was still getting ready.

"Thanks honey! Have a good day at school! Love you too!" she called before she started coughing. Lately her mother had caught a cold but Anika didn't think much of it. Shaking her head she followed the boys down the road towards the schools, trying to take slow, deep breaths. She didn't want to seem nervous in front of Hitsuji.

On the way, they walked by the Uchiha compound, stopping by Itachi and Sasuke's house to drop off Hitsuji so Mikoto could babysit her. Anika hugged her tightly; maybe a bit too tightly for Hitsuji's tastes, and kissed the top of her head.

"Be good for Mikoto-san, okay?" she warned gently. Hitsuji laughed as Mikoto emerged from the house and waved as they started walking towards the school again.

"Thank you Mikoto-san!" Anika yelled, waving back at her and smiling.

"You're welcome. Have a nice day at school." She called back, leading Hitsuji into the house.

As they continued on their way to school, Anika grew more and more anxious. Passing a puddle on the ground, seeing as it rained the other day, Anika quickly stole a glance at her reflection in the murky water. Her hair had grown down to almost her butt and was pretty much straight nowadays. Her bangs, which had been cut straight across before, had now grown out, parted in the middle and put behind both ears.

Unfortunately, she hadn't grown much taller; a fact Sasuke reminded her of everyday thank you very much. She was a tiny bit short for her age but she would get up there…Hopefully. She broke out of her thoughts when they arrived at the front of the school and stopping when Itachi said, "Well, I have to go down to this part of the school so I'll see you guys right here at the end of the day, okay?"

"Okay." Sasuke said and Anika nodded. Itachi gave them one last look before disappearing into the crowd of upperclassmen.

"I'm guessing our class is this way." Sasuke pointed to the left where all the shorter kids were filing into the school. Anika followed Sasuke slowly, her knees shaking and breathing through her nose quickly. Sasuke stopped and put a hand around her shoulder reassuringly.

"Are you sure about this Sasuke?" she asked, pushing her index fingers together. "What if they don't like me? The other people in the class I mean?"

"You'll do fine, Anika. I'm sure they'll love you." He said with a sideways smile towards her. With that and a deep breath, she gathered her courage and walked with Sasuke to her classroom.

When she entered the room her eyes widened and she realized maybe she didn't have anything to worry about. The room was in utter chaos. They probably wouldn't even notice she was there. Sasuke grabbed her wrist and they sat in the back row next to the only sane looking girl in the room; a quiet looking girl with short blue-black hair and white, pupil less eyes. She looked just as scared as Anika was, pushing her fingers together nervously and looking at the desk. The boy next her to was whispering things to her about not being weak and scared; that it was just school and people and she should grow up and stop being such a baby. He had long brown hair pulled back in a very low pony tail with the same pupil less eyes of the girl and a tan jacket.

What Anika overheard of their conversation made her very angry. 'You don't talk to people like that!' Without even thinking she opened her mouth to retort but Sasuke pulled on her jacket sleeve and gave her a warning glare, making her close her mouth and stay quiet.

Glaring at the desk in front of her, she waited until the two strangers' conversation was over before addressing the girl next to her.

"H-hello. My n-name is Shir-ro A-Anika." She said quietly, not sure if the girl would hear her over the yelling over everybody in the room. Fortunately for her, the girl's face cracked into a small, nervous smile.

"M-my name is H-Hyuuga H-Hinat-ta." She said shyly, looking down at her desk again.

"Hinata." I tried the name on my tongue and then gave her a smile. "I like that name."

"Oh!" she exclaimed as if she forgot something, turning to point to the boy next to her. "A-And this is my c-cousin Hyuuga N-Neji-kun."

"H-hello there Hyuuga-san." Anika gave him a polite nod and a small smile. He just looked at her with a bland look and nodded back, turning back to look to the front of the room again.

"And t-this is my friend U-Uchiha Sasuke." Anika introduced, Hinata blushing and nodded as he nodded back before looking back around the room, trying to see if he recognized any more people.

Anika and Hinata talked quietly to themselves for several minutes. Sasuke couldn't help the little smirk that played on his lips as he watched his friend talk to the new girl. Just as Anika started to look more comfortable, something startled her out of her wits.

"Anika-chan!" A blonde figure came up behind her, hugging her around the shoulders and smiling a bright, close eyed smile. She made a quiet, high pitched squeak but calmed down when she realized it was just Naruto.

"Naruto! Don't scare me like that!" she said, taking a calming breath and smiling. "Go sit down, I'm sure the sensei should be coming in soon."

Naruto grinned and sat next to Sasuke, who was glaring at him for having made such a scene. Hinata, on Anika's other side, was blushing wildly though with wide, sparkling eyes.

"Who-who was that?" she whispered to Anika, who opened her mouth to respond but just then the door opened, revealing Iruka-sensei. Anika sighed with relief; at least she knew the sensei so this wouldn't be SO bad.

"Okay class, settle down. Find a seat." He said as he shuffled through some papers and then put them on his desk, looking up at all of them with a smile. "Today we will just go around the room and introduce ourselves, get to know each other a bit."

As we went around the room, everybody stood up and said their name and something interesting about themselves. When it was Anika's turn she stuttered and mumbled but got through it with a blush and sat back down quickly before anybody could complain that they couldn't hear her. When Hinata spoke though it made her feel better because nobody could hear a word she said and the teacher asked her to speak louder.

She did but looked a little light headed afterwards and had to sit down. Anika smiled at her and said,

"Good job!" as Neji glared at her.

The rest of the day went smoothly. He taught us the basics; math, writing, reading, history. We even took an art class and had lunch and then recess on the playground. We learned about chakra but wouldn't be learning how to do actual jutsu for a while. Sasuke nudged Anika's shoulder with his at recess as she watched all the kids play and gave her a smirk.

"So, you like school so far?" he asked, already knowing the answer.

"Yeah, I think I do." She said with a smile. She wrinkled her nose and said, "Well, there's maybe too many people here but I think I'll get used to it." She clarified, shaking her head as she watched Neji push Hinata-chan on the swings gently. "Find anybody you like yet?" she questioned, looking over at him curiously.

He continued to scope out the playground with an uninterested eye.

"Nope. Nobody here has caught my interest as a friend yet. They all seem kind of boring." He said finally, as if coming to the decision right then and there. Anika nodded. That sounded like Sasuke alright.

As school got out Sasuke and Anika were waiting for Itachi just where they had left him that morning. The huge crowd had cleared out and there was just a few stragglers left, going their separate ways to their homes.

"Where is he?" Sasuke growled. He was getting really annoyed and pacing back and forth in front of Anika, who was waiting patiently.

"He probably had to stay after to talk to a sensei or something. He's like, a super genius right?" Anika suggested, watching Sasuke walk from side to side. Getting fed up with the pacing, she took his wrists and made him look her in the face.

"Calm down. He'll be here." She said forcefully and he sighed. She was right. Itachi's word might by faulty sometimes but he never went back on it.

Just then Itachi emerged from the school followed by a tall blonde girl, who looked much older than him. Itachi looked rather pissed off by her and when he reached them he turned to her and said,

"Now would you please stop following me? I've told you this before. I have to bring my brother and his friend home. I'm sure you are a very nice girl but I will not go out with you. Ever. So stop asking me and stalking me and talking to your friends about me. Thank you. Good bye."

With that he turned and started walking away, Sasuke and Anika following hurriedly, looking back at the blonde girl who looked like she was about to cry.

After the girl was out of sight, Itachi's face relaxed and he took a deep breath, smiling down at the two and asking how their first day at the academy was.

"It was okay. Nothing special." Sasuke blow it off as if it was nothing but Anika and Itachi could tell from his eyes that he had a great time. Smiling and pulling on Itachi's shirt sleeve, Anika smiled up at him and exclaimed,

"It was so much fun!" She jumped up and down, explaining animatedly everything that happened that day, from meeting Hinata to the fact that a boy named Kiba hid his puppy in his jacket and brought him to school with him. Itachi chuckled as they reached the Uchiha's house, Hitsuji running out and hugging Anika. Mikoto and Mari came out after, saying Mari was just picking Hitsuji up and she would walk them home. Saying bye to her friends and that she would see them tomorrow, Anika waved goodbye and started on her way home.

The walk home wasn't bad; it was a short walk from the Uchiha compound to the Shiro house. Hitsuji and Anika dragged Mari the whole way home, seeing as she said she was tired and coughing the whole way home didn't help. They told her all about their day and she listened with a tired smile. Now if only she could do this every day for the next 242 days, that would be great.


	5. Touch The Sky

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto, Masashi Kishimoto does. All rights go to him except my ocs.

In this chapter, takes place over a year so by the end of this chapter and the beginning of the next chapter Sasuke and Anika are 8. I know I'm changing canon a little bit with Itachi's age and him being in the academy still but whatever. It fits better for the story.

Strangers like Me

Chapter 5- Touch The Sky

School went by without very many problems. Anika met new people and became more comfortable with all of them. The only real people she considered friends in the class were Hinata, Sasuke, and Naruto though. Naruto would always get the class into trouble and make them have to do extra work but Anika didn't mind. With more work, the more you learned and that was the point of going to school, right? She did find it funny that besides herself, the only other person in the class that did not get angry at Naruto for this was Hinata. Personally, Anika thought Hinata had a crush on him but every time she brought it up to the other girl, she would just deny it and turn and alarming shade of red.

When Anika and Hitsuji came home from school one day, they were greeted by their father in the living room.

"Daddy!" they exclaimed happily, hugging him. He put on his best smile and hugged them both.

"Where's Mom? Anika looked around and asked as Hitsuji continued looking around the room, checking in cabinets as if she would be in there or something. Lately their mother had been sick on the couch so she hadn't been working but she wasn't on her normal spot of the couch today.

Tomo gave a heavy sigh and looked down at his daughters, who were both looking up at his quizzically.

"You know how your mother has been very sick lately?" he began solemnly. They nodded. Anika didn't like where this was going. "Well, she had to go to the hospital today. They don't think she will be out for some time."

"S-So she's…gone? Like, at the hospital and we can't see her and-" Anika began to panic before Tomo interrupted her and Hitsuji began to cry.

"Mommy!" Hitsuji yelled.

"No Anika, honey. We can still see her! We're going to go see her tomorrow, okay? Hitsuji? Tomorrow's Saturday, you don't have school or anything. I'll take the day off and we'll go see Mum, alright?" he reassured as he knelt down and took them both into his arms and let them cry into his shoulders.

"I'm sure she'll be out in a couple of days. She just has a little cold."

"You sure?" Anika sniffled, wiping a tear on his shirt and pulling back to look him in the face. She had a really bad feeling about this.

"I promise."

_

The next day they entered the hospital holding their father's hand. Anika looked around at the bright white walls and all the patients walking around the halls. Some were wrapped in bandages, some had hollow, sick eyes and pale, miserable faces, some were just old, and some had missing limbs. Being slightly scared of the people and not wanting to be rude, Anika decided to look at the floor the whole way to their mother's room.

Hitsuji, on the other hand, took all these new surroundings in as a new adventure. She wasn't afraid to point things out or ask rude questions or yell. Tomo had to tell her to be quiet several times before they found Mari's room number, lightly knocking on the door before hearing a quiet,

"Come in!"

Hitsuji banged the door open and ran into the room. The room was small but big enough to fit a bed with a television across the room. There was a window next to the bed and a bathroom that was connected to the room. At least she didn't have to share it with anybody!

"Mommy!" both girls exclaimed as Hitsuji tried to climb onto the bed and Anika came running over. Tomo lifted them both and put them on the bed next to their mother who hugged them both as tightly as she could.

"Ahh! I missed you guys!" She said, holding them at arm's length and looking at them. Their mom didn't even look that sick! Okay, so she kind of did. She had light circles under her eyes like she had trouble sleeping and she coughed profusely, covering her mouth and saying 'excuse me' as politely as she could with a course throat.

"Do you feel better yet, Mom?" Hitsuji asked hopefully. "Can you come home yet?"

Her mother just smiled at her sadly and said,

"Nope. They don't know what's wrong with me yet."

The rest of the visit, Anika and Hitsuji lay in bed beside their mother while their father sat in a chair next to the bed. They talked, watched television, and played a couple of games. They even got lunch in the cafeteria of the hospital. Saying goodbye was defiantly the worst part though. Hitsuji gave her mother a huge hug around the neck and pouted, tearing up a bit.

"You're going to come home soon, right?" she asked.

"I don't know. Hopefully. We'll see." Mari said as she ruffled the little girl's hair and kissed her forehead. Tomo picked her up and put her back on the ground. It was Anika's turn.

Anika practically attacked her mother in a hug, burying her head in her shoulder. As much as she tried to keep them in, tears escaped her eyes as she mumbled,

"Get better soon, okay?"

Mari kissed Anika's forehead and wiped her tears, smiling at her reassuringly. "I'll be okay. Don't you worry."

Anika smiled shakily and jumped off the bed, grabbing her dad's hand and waving as she left her room.

"Your mom is in the hospital?" Sasuke said, surprised. Anika nodded sadly.

"Wow. She must be really sick." He said, sounding nervous. Anika looked over at him, worried. Itachi, seeing the look on Anika's face said,

"I'm sure she will be fine Anika-chan. She's a strong kunoichi, she'll pull through." Itachi gave her a reassuring smile and she relaxed a bit, giving him a genuine smile back.

"Thank you." She replied, looking down at the grass and playing with it between her fingers. They were sitting in the boys' back yard. Itachi had graduated from the academy so he hadn't had much time to spend with Sasuke and Anika lately. He had been on mission after mission. He seemed to be distant lately so was a special day. Today was one of those rare days when he was free and feeling friendly towards them. Suddenly remembering there was a question she wanted to ask him, Anika's head snapped up to look at Itachi and asked,

"Since you're here Itachi, can you teach me and Sasuke how to aim shuriken?"

Itachi raised an eyebrow and looked at Sasuke who just shrugged in a 'why not' kind of way.

"They haven't taught you at the academy yet?" he questioned but he was already getting to his feet, taking some shuriken out of his pouch on his leg.

"No. Naruto keeps messing things up for us so we're way behind where we're supposed to be." Sasuke spoke up then, getting to his feet also. "I mean, I'm pretty sure I already know how to do this but it couldn't hurt to practice." He said cockily brushing the excess grass off his pants.

"Well it's a good thing we have targets in the back yard then." Itachi said, taking a few steps back way from the children. "Okay so, you see my feet? The way they're separated but steady? That has to be your starting foot position." Itachi explained, pointing to his feet. Then he made a point to show them how he was holding the shuriken; tightly not in a way to cut himself.

"And then…" Itachi said and with a flick of his wrists the two weapons went flying and both hit the target in the middle.

"Now it's your turn." He explained, pulling another shuriken out of the pouch and handing it to Anika, who gently took it from him as if it were sacred.

Nervously, she stood where he was previously, mimicking his feet and taking a deep breath. This wasn't that hard. I mean, isn't that was Sasuke said? Besides, it was kind of like Frisbee, right? Closing her eyes and gathering her thoughts, she opened them with determination and flicked her wrist.

She watched as the star shaped piece of metal flew over the target and flew into the grass behind it. She sighed and looked at the ground, started to go after it. What did she really expect, having it perfect on the first try?

"That was really good for your first try Anika." Itachi said, watching as she fetched it and Sasuke took her place, taking his turn to throw it. He did and it hit the target a couple of inches away from Itachi's. Sasuke smirk proudly and retrieved his from the target.

"Can I try again?" Anika asked timidly, a little put off by Sasuke's skill.

"Of course you can Anika. We'll be doing this until it becomes second nature for you." Itachi responded coolly, not looking at her. It was like he couldn't be bothered with her. Anika pretended she didn't notice. Maybe he was just stressed because of missions; he had been on a lot of them lately.

Anika positioned her feet again, holding the shuriken up to her eyes and aiming it for the middle of the target. She took a calming breath and with a flick of her wrist, watched the weapon fly through the air and hit the top of the target; she sighed and looked at the ground. At least it hit the target this time.

She looked over at Itachi, who just looked at her and said,

"Go get it and try again."

She did as she was told, pulling it out of the target and going back to her spot, rooting her feet to the ground and getting back into position, aiming again. This time it came closer to the bull's eye but not by much. The longer it would take her to hit the bull's eye, the angrier she would become. This went on for a couple of hours until dinner, which Mikoto invited her to stay for.

Dinner was awkward because Fugaku was there but overall it was not so bad. All Anika had to do was avoid eye contact with him and keep quiet and he wasn't so bad. She ate as fast as she possibly could without being rude and when they were all done with their meal, she and the boys went back outside.

The sun was setting and it was getting a bit cold but Anika didn't care. She was going to get this shuriken thing down if it killed her. She picked a shuriken up off the ground and threw it, getting close to the bull's eye but not close enough. She growled and picked up another, whipping it at the target again.

"Are you STILL doing this?" Sasuke complained, looking bored with his head in his hand. When she didn't answer he replied, "Fine. I'm going inside. I'll see you later." With that, he waved and went back inside his house.

Itachi just stood and watched silently. If Anika couldn't feel his eyes burning into the back of her head, she could have sworn she was alone. She trained and trained and trained until it was dark and she had no idea what time it was. Was Itachi still here? All she knew was that the sun had set around her some time ago and she couldn't see straight. She found her eyelids drooping as she fell to her knees, slowly laying down on the grass. Maybe she could just rest her eyes for a second?

She woke up the next morning on a mat on Sasuke's floor, where she always slept when she slept over. Wait, she had slept over? She panicked as she got up and looked around the room, trying to remember the last thing that happened the night before. She was training and she…she couldn't keep her eyes open.

'I think Itachi…brought me in the house?' she thought, making her way quietly to the door and into the hallway, with one last look at Sasuke to make sure she hadn't awoken him. She made her way down the hall and quietly knocked on Itachi's door, hoping his parents wouldn't hear and she would get in trouble. Lost in thought, she didn't notice when the door opened to reveal Itachi, already dressed for the day and sporting a blank stare.

"Anika?" he asked politely, snapping her out of her thoughts. Her head snapped up and she blushed in embarrassment, looking at her feet.

"Hey, Itachi. Um, what happened…last night?" she asked, looking up at him curiously. His eyes flashed with some kind of emotion she couldn't decipher (was it amusement?) before saying,

"I told your father you would be spending the night here. Mother didn't mind at all of course. I set you up in Sasuke's room, as usual. I figured you wouldn't mind." He replied, leaning up against the door frame. Anika nodded with a smile. At least her father wouldn't be worried about her.

Without thinking she gave Itachi a hug, in which he stiffened and became uncomfortable for only a second before brushing it off like it never happened and hugging her back.

"Thanks Itachi-nii." She said as she made her way back to Sasuke's room to wait for him to wake up. Itachi just watched her go and then went back into his room with a sigh.


	6. The Best of Friends

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto, Masashi Kishimoto does. All rights go to him except my ocs.

Sasuke and Anika are still 8 at the moment. Actual plot is coming up soon and thing are going to get sad. :( So, yeah.

Strangers like Me

Chapter 6- The Best of Friends

The days went by terribly slow for Anika; too slow in fact. School wasn't so bad because they were actually getting to learn techniques now like how to through shuriken and kunai and how to do small jutsu. Life at home was getting very stressful though.

Mari still had not come home from the hospital yet, even though it had been five months. She had even missed Hitsuji's 6th birthday and Christmas. Every time they visited she looked worse and worse. As if knowing Mari was on Anika's mind, Tomo called her into the living room while Hitsuji played in their room.

"Yeah, dad?" Anika asked, stopping in front of him on the couch.

She was used to seeing him more often now so it wasn't so special seeing him anymore. Because Mari was in the hospital, he had to be around before and after school to watch them, which meant having only one job. They struggled with bills, especially hospital bills, but Tomo never expressed an ounce of panic in front of the girls. He never wanted them to have to worry about money like he had to.

Tomo's face was grave and pale and his eyes were a little red and puffy but he tried to hide it.

"Daddy?" Anika asked, seeing his hard expression. "What's wrong?" Her father took a deep breath before replying in a steady voice,

"You know your mother has been in the hospital for a long time, right?" Anika nodded.

"Well, the doctors know what is wrong with her. Do you remember when you were little and your mother used to smoke?" he asked again, his voice wobbling a little.

Anika nodded again, wanting to know where this was going. Of course she remembered her mom smoking. She was basically a chain smoker until Anika was about 4 and then decided to quit because it was bad for the girls. She would never forget the disgusting smell that burned the inside of her nose.

"Because she used to smoke a lot…Anika, she has lung cancer." Her father said bluntly, staring at her for a reaction. When Anika just stared back at him like she didn't understand he explained, "Cancer is a disease. It started in her lungs, making it very hard for her to breath. Then it spread into her blood stream, making it almost impossible to treat." His voice broke and he looked away from her to his hands that were shaking in his lap. From his reaction, she could tell this was bad but…what did that mean?

"So…?" Anika pushed, trying to get anything further out of him.

"She's not coming home Anika. Ever. She's…she's going to…she's going to die." He said, finally looking up at Anika, tears shimmering in hazel eyes, exactly like Hitsuji's. Anika's eyes immediately filled with tears as she launched herself at her dad and cried on his shoulder. As she cried she felt her father shake slightly and a wet spot appear on her shoulder and she guessed he was probably crying too. That only made her cry harder but she wasn't sure if it was because she was sad that he was sad or if she was scared because she had never seen him like this before. This was her dad. He was always a steady constant in her life, something she could count on, someone she knew would always be strong for her and here he was, sobbing into her shoulder. But then again, her mother was also a steady constant and look what happened to her.

They stayed like that for hours, whispering to each other, telling stories, and crying before eventually looking at the clock three hours later. Dinner time.

"I think I'll skip dinner tonight." Anika said as she got off the couch and gave her dad one last hug before heading to her room.

"Okay, just make sure Hitsuji comes out here. I need to talk to her too." Tomo said, wiping his face of sadness and putting on a smile for his little girl as she came running into the room after hearing her name.

"Yeah, Daddy?" She asked as she ran up to him and Tomo picked her up, putting her in his lap as he sat down on the couch.

That's all Anika heard of the conversation before closing the door of their room and laying on her bed. She stared blankly at her ratty old carpet and sighed. She felt numb and weak. Like she couldn't move. Like the energy had been sucked out of her and all her tears had run dry. Laying on her back, she stared at the ceiling and her stomach growled. Okay, maybe she was hungry but she didn't feel like going back in there and facing them. Both of them reminded Anika of her and then she would start crying again and she didn't want that so instead she decided to just stare at her ceiling for as long as she could.

She didn't know when but eventually she had fallen asleep because in the middle of the night she was awoken by Hitsuji's soft crying into her pillow. Turning to face her sister, Anika saw her curled up in a ball with her face in the pillow as she sobbed uncontrollably. Without even thinking Anika got up and went to Hitsuji's bed, getting in beside her and putting the blankets over them, holding her sister tightly to her chest, letting her cry into her shoulder. They stayed like that for a long time, Anika trying to whisper nice things to her sister without her voice breaking and making herself cry. In between crying fits Hitsuji would whisper broken sentences like,

"It's not fair…" and things of that nature. Anika had to agree but life wasn't always fair. Sometimes bad things just happened to good people and good people just had to suffer a little. That's how they became stronger people.

Anika was very quiet on the way to school the next day. She didn't talk the whole way there and Sasuke didn't want to pry so they walked silently down the road until they got to the school. Before they went in though, Sasuke caught her hand and pulled her back, looking into her eyes. She was almost shocked by the level of concern they held for her.

"Hey, Anika. Are you okay?" he asked, trying to be casual about it. Anika sighed.

"Yeah, I'm fine Sasuke." He looked at her seriously and replied,

"You look like a mess. Your hair isn't brushed, your stomach is growling, and it looks like you didn't get any sleep." He looked at her pointedly. "Tell me what's wrong."

Anika's apathetic face broke as she started to cry. Sasuke panicked. He didn't know how to deal with tears! Naruto or Hinata could deal with this but not him! But he was here right now and apparently the one she needed because she curled into herself, hugging her sides and started sobbing. He stepped forward, putting his hands on her shoulders and without even thinking she stepped into him, crying into his chest. He awkwardly patted her on the back and put his hands in her hair, trying to think of what his mom did when he cried when he was little.

"What's wrong Anika?" he asked as gently as he could. "Did something happen?"

"My-my-my…my mom is…She's dying. And th-here's nothing the doctors can d-d-dooo about iiittt." She cried, gripping onto his shirt for dear life. He just stood there, frozen as her words sunk in, and then continued patting her back. Mari was…no, that couldn't be…

"Wow.", was all he could say. "I'm so sorry Anika." He would miss her mother a lot but he couldn't imagine how much it would hurt her. He waited for her to calm down a little bit before pulling back to arm's length, looking her in the face.

"Why don't we skip class today?" Sasuke suggested, smiling down at the brunette. Anika looked shocked.

"Sasuke! We can't do that! That's against the rules! We'll get into trouble." Sasuke shrugged.

"We'll be fine. Today is a special day." He said as he took her hand and led her away from the school and down towards the market. He looked around until he found what he was looking for and then dragged her over to the stall, climbing onto the stools at the counter.

"Two vanilla ice creams please." Sasuke asked calmly, as if the vendor wasn't giving him a look like he just grew another head. Despite the look, the vendor turned and got the ice cream, handing one cup to each of them and then looking at Sasuke skeptically for payment. The boy easily pulled out more than enough money for the treats and handed it to the vendor, who looked surprised as they jumped down from the stools.

"Keep the change." Sasuke grunted with a wave of his hand.

"Thank you!" Anika said happily as she smiled back at the man. She also thanked Sasuke a little more quietly and blushed. "You didn't have to pay for it." She said.

"You didn't have the money and besides; it's my treat." Sasuke insisted, looking at her with the corner of his eye with a smirk. She shoved him with her elbow and laughed. They ate their ice creams as they walked, passing by the stores and booths. As they passed they movie theater, Anika was about to suggest they go see one but didn't want to spend all of Sasuke's money. That would be rude. Sasuke saw her face though and knew exactly what she was thinking.

"Why don't we see a movie?" he asked, finishing his ice cream and throwing away the cup and spoon outside the theater.

"Are you sure?" Anika asked uncertainly. Sasuke just smiled at her again and turned to the board listing the movies.

"Which one do you want to see?"

"That one?" she pointed timidly, before throwing way the cup and spoon of her ice cream. Sasuke nodded and went up to the counter and bought the tickets, giving the man a glare when he suggested they probably should be in school at this time of day.

He led her to the concession stand and looked at all the candy and popcorn.

"Do you want anything?" he asked. He was being way too nice to her. She didn't want him to spend so much money on her, she felt bad. She would never be able to pay him back.

"No thank you. The ice cream filled me." She explained, which was the truth. It was a pretty big ice cream. Sasuke looked at her skeptically before getting small popcorn for himself and then they made their way into the theater.

The movie was a funny, PG movie and in Sasuke's opinion was a little childish but Anika enjoyed it so he was okay with it. After all, today so to cheer Anika up so it didn't really matter was Sasuke wanted. It may seem out of character for Sasuke a little but he did care about Anika like a sister and he didn't like seeing her upset. If there was anything he could do to fix it, he would. Even if it was a temporary fix.

When the movie let out, Sasuke and Anika left the theater, Anika beaming and Sasuke looking as bored as usual.

"That movie was so cute! I loved it!" Anika squealed. Sasuke smiled. At least she liked it.

"So, what do you want to do now?" He asked, making her brows furrow in concentration.

"We could go to my house and find something there to do." Anika suggested, running out of ideas. She figured nobody would be at her house and they could do whatever they wanted. Her dad was at work and Mikoto was watching Hitsuji.

Sasuke nodded and they made their way to the Shiro house, taking a short cut so they didn't have to pass by the Uchiha compound. When they got to the house, Anika held the door open for Sasuke, who took the invitation and then entered herself. Looking around the house, she was disappointed and embarrassed.

The house was a mess in more ways than one. There were left over dishes in the sink, the trash needed to be taken out, the floor wasn't a complete mess but it wouldn't hurt to sweep it. Speaking of the floor, there were holes in the linoleum where you could see the plywood underneath. There were a couple of plants around the room but they seemed to be the only well taken care of things in the room.

Anika immediately rushed to the dishes, taking a sponge and turning the water on, apologizing profusely about the state of the house. As she began to hand wash some of the dishes in a panicked frenzy she said,

"Oh my god Sasuke, I'm so so sorry. Maybe we could do something else. I didn't even realize everything looked so bad! I mean, between school and looking out for Hitsuji and Dad working and going back and forth to the hospital I guess we haven't really had time for much else and-"

She was cut short when Sasuke took the sponge from her and put in back on the edge of the sink where she had got it from and placing the plate back into the sink. Looking up at him curiously she said,

"Sasuke, what are you-?"

"It's okay Anika." He said honestly, looking her straight in the eye as if to prove to her he wasn't lying. "It's alright. I don't mind your house, even when it's dirty. I like it. It's familiar and…it's like a second home. You don't have to clean up to impress me."

"I wasn't doing it to impress you." She began slowly, as if talking to herself as well. "I just…I hate this. It's embarrassing. Your house is beautiful and your family is perfect and mine is… It's…It's…falling apart…" Her eyes filled up with tears that slowly leaked down her face.

Given the situation earlier, Sasuke knew what he had to do now. He moved forward and put his arms around the girl as she cried into his shoulder. They stood there for quite some time, him trying to console her as she tried to grip onto the world she knew that felt as if it were spiraling into the ground.


End file.
